Bookworms
by YuGiOhRox
Summary: (Freed and Levy Brotp) Sort of prequel to 'In This Guild'. Early in the morning at the library, Freed runs into something very interesting.


**Bookworms**

Freed probably should have been expecting Levy to be at the library in Magnolia, but he was surprised that she wasn't at Fairy Hills considering the hour. He usually came early in the morning to find some books on new enchantments to learn, but Levy had never been here before – he assumed that she normally came later when it wasn't 4 am in the morning.

"Oh hi Freed!" He was out a little on edge though he wouldn't ever show it, how could she be so perky and happy so early?

"Hello Levy, how are you today?" She smiled brightly at him and he turned his head awkwardly away.

"Oh I'm fine; I just wanted to get some new reading material for home. Erza's taken some of my books again."

"She takes your books?" He'd never heard about that happening before, shouldn't she be upset?

"Yeah, she particularly likes the rather naughty ones." Her smile turned into a bit of a sly grin before her face changed back to normal. "It's fine, she'll give them back eventually, and Laki will help me with the bookcase situation in my room. Or she'll keep them and I can get to them whenever I want to read them, she has way more space in her room than I have in mine anyway so… Ugh, I'm talking way too much. Anyway what are you doing here so early?"

"Well I usually come at this hour to look up some new enchantments. I've never seen you here this early, though I know you must be a regular visitor considering your love to read." She nodded quickly enough for her head to fly off, but seemed perfectly fine when she stopped.

"I normally come a little bit later, at about 5, but I couldn't sleep so I just decided to stop waiting and come here early. Besides, it gives me more time to read." Freed was a little less surprised this time, at least now he knew her reasoning but if she was used to coming in a little bit later, then she should've been showing signs of sleepiness, yet she seemed as perky as she did whenever she was talking to Lucy.

"That's still rather early, you truly must love reading that much to be up at such an hour." The small bluenette nodded quickly again and he chuckled to himself softly.

"I do, and it's always great to learn new things – I've gotten a few new great spells from all of these." His eyebrow rose in curiosity, it was no wonder she'd seemed so much happier at the guild lately.

"What have you found?" Knowing of the similarities in their magic at times, it was only sensible to ask when he could learn something too.

She started explaining the magic she'd found, sometimes having to translate it from the language it was in, and the two got into a deep conversation about it. Freed hadn't been aware of some of the spells she'd come across and they could easily be used to compliment his runes. He might even be able to develop a new style by combining some of Levy's type of magic with it.

An hour later they both left the library and started heading towards the guild, aware that Mirajane would be there and opening it up for everybody.

*/*\\*

They ended up meeting again the next day. It was midday and they were once again in the library, finding another book that interested them. Freed hadn't felt so relaxed for a while, Levy was good company and managed to keep up with him on an intellectual level; Bickslow and Evergreen were great friends but they never understood the complexities of his magic and what he needed to learn to use the skills effectively. Levy did, having a similar situation with Jet and Droy.

While browsing through the 'magic' section, an interesting book grabbed Freed's attention, but when he tried taking it from the shelf it caused four of the others to fall down, paper wrinkling as the one that stayed on top fell open to a reveal an interesting page.

"Levy, come and look at this!" Kneeling down, Freed smoothed back the wrinkled sheets of paper, taking the book delicately into his hands as he heard small footsteps from behind.

"What is it? Something interesting?"

"Yes, I believe so."

Checking the cover, the book was apparently about mystical creatures; he'd never taken much interest in them unless he should be aware of possible threats on a job, but the page he'd seen had caught his attention. When Levy came to his side he lowered his arms a little, so she wouldn't have to stand on tiptoes, and turned back to the page.

"Does that say 'Exceeds'?" Her curiosity always at a high level, Levy took the book herself and walked with Freed to a table so they could both investigate further. The species of these 'Exceeds' was intriguing, especially since Freed was sure he'd seen something similar before…

After briefly skimming through the words, something caught his eye under 'Summary'.

' _With distinctive feline qualities, the Exceeds are quite a curious race. It is unknown where they originate from and while they've the ability to communicate, levels of intelligence vary from subject to subject; investigations to determine any continuations of habits between the creatures have turned up little results.'_

That was the start of what he read, but his eyes flickering over to a poor sketch of a cat like animal, standing on its back 'paws' gave him the final piece to the puzzle.

"Levy, don't you think this sounds a lot like Happy?" Tearing her line of sight away from the old paper, her eyes met his, shining with realization.

"Yes it does! And Carla aswell!" Freed had forgotten about the female cat, he smiled at her for excellent memory skills.

"I suppose this explains there strange way of birth then, coming from an egg… and of course all of their special traits." It was a sort of relief to know, while the topic had never bothered him much in particular, knowing that their two little guildmates weren't just 'talking cats' _could_ be useful knowledge.

"Freed are you going to want to read more about this?" He wasn't. It was the 'Exceeds' that caught his eye and he'd already read the page about them, there wasn't anything else that called him to this book anymore.

"No I won't, I'm more than happy for you to be the one to use this; it doesn't interest me as much as it would you." She threw him a beaming smile and thanked him before running off to check it out, eager to read more into everything in the comfort of her home.

 **I don't really know what happened with this; I had a different idea at the beginning but forgot it when I** _ **really**_ **started to write this so I thought I could make it a sort of prequel to 'In This Guild'…**

 **Reviews are appreciated!**


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